THORNBURY Town football club new season preparations continued with a number of pre-season friendly matches for both the first team and reserves.

The first team followed up a 2-2 draw against Eastern in Gordano during which a number of new players were given their opportunity to shine in front of the management team, with a tremendous 2-0 victory against a strong Hallen side with Liam Broomfield and Troy Monks getting the goals.

Saturday saw Town entertain Hellenic Division One West Champions Winterbourne United in a game played in glorious sunshine.

Winterbourne fielded a strong team with prolific goalscorer Jimmy Potts and Town old boy Dean Kingman featuring in defence.

The visitors took the game to Thornbury and it took a good ten minutes for Town to get out of their own half.

It came much against the run of play when youngster James Derosa finished off a good move out of defence with a first time shot from just inside the penalty area over the Winterbourne keeper to open the scoring.

Winterbourne were soon back on level terms when they capitalised on a defensive mix up by Town for Jimmy Potts to score from close range.

The second period saw Thornbury assert themselves much better in terms of controlled football so it was a real shock when Winterbourne took the lead with a shot that swerved in flight to beat goalkeeper Alex Lippiatt.

From that stage onwards Thornbury were the better team and had a number of opportunities to grab a deserved equaliser.

The final whistle came with Winterbourne holding onto their 2-1 lead but the Thornbury squad can be pleased with their efforts on the day.

Further pre-season friendlies are arranged for both senior teams and the under-18s in the coming weeks before the new season which commences with the opening match for the first team at home on Saturday, August 16 against King’s Stanley. The following Saturday sees the first local derby of the season with Patchway the visitors to the Mundy playing fields.

The club have welcomed on board Steve Tweed, who takes over the mantle of under-18s manager and brings with him a good nucleus of players from last season’s Thornbury Falcons U16 squad. A number of these players have already featured and impressed the club during the pre-season schedule of games.

The talent is certainly there to be nurtured, however new faces at every level are always welcome to join them at training at the Mundy playing fields on a Tuesday and Thursday evening, commencing at 7pm.